The opportunities Governor Ishaku missed at Federal University Wukari Convocation

Whatever informed the decision by Governor Darius Ishaku to be absent at the colourful convocation ceremony of the Federal University, Wukari (FUW) which took place on Saturday February 12, 2022, the Governor shot himself and Taraba state in the foot.

Apart from the presence of the Vice-President as Guest of Honour at the event, a prominent son of southern Taraba Damian Dodo (SAN) was among the three eminent personalities honoured at the event. And to complete the roll of honours was the former Governor of Bauchi state and erstwhile Chairman of the PDP Ahmed Adamu Muazu who was awarded an honorary doctorate degree.

For any of these three personalities, Governor Ishaku should have made it a point to be at the event.

But even beyond that, the FUW is the highest ranking tertiary institution in southern Taraba where the Governor hails from and which he wants to represent at the Senate in 2023.

It is not always that the Number 2 man in the country visits off-the-beaten track states like Taraba. Last time the VP came to Taraba, it was to commission a cucumber farm which was a pet project of Governor Ishaku.

But this time around the occasion was to witness the harvest of another kind of farm; an educational farm where the future leaders of the state and the country having been nurtured painstakingly for years are now set to be released into the world to actualise their potentials.

A good many of them are Tarabans and it would have been a good opportunity for their own governor to be on hand to see them off into the wider world.

For its future growth as a citadel of learning, FUW needs infrastructure. It is already making good strides ranked as the 17^th best public university in the country. This is remarkable considering that the university being among the newest in the country, ranks above some of the older established ones.

Governor Ishaku should have accompanied the VP from Abuja and on the chopper flight from the Makurdi Airforce base, he should have asked for an aerial overfly of the Kashimbilla dam project for the benefit of the VP. It would have been a good opportunity to enlist the support of the VP for the project which is now reportedly at 90 per cent completion to be commissioned without delay.

The Kashimbilla dam which is of 90 megawatt capacity and also designed for irrigation purposes is projected to energise half of Taraba and improve agricultural and spur other economic activities in the area. 

The VP who is presently angling to succeed President Buhari and whose visit to FUW has a tinge of politics in it, would surely have lent a helping hand if the Governor were to be on hand during the visit to make the request.

For Governor Ishaku to let this gilt-edged opportunity for Taraba state slip by is really a case of poor politics and bad public affairs. Looking at all this, one is led to wonder whether our Governor is availed of competent political and public relations advisers or whether it is his intrinsic failing as a leader not to know and seize political opportunities such as the FUW convocation provided.